Funny things you did on 1st cruise

[The_Geek]

As a first time cruiser, I played a trick on my then gf, now wife. When I woke up in the morning I set the alarm on my cell phone to go off a minute later and put it on the nightstand beside her. I had the alarm set to sound like the emergency Alarm on a ship. When it woke her up I was running around the cabin like a lunatic putting on my life jacket.

 

She panicked , and needless to say I was in trouble for awhile. Apparently it was not as funny as I thought it was.

[YB Nrml]

We didn't know about CC either before our first cruise. I bought and packed an entire suitcase of beach towels, didn't know Carnival provided them.

 

We knew nothing about the dancing waiters in MDR. When the dancing started at first I thought something was wrong like a fire or someone choking to death. Then I thought our waiter was "going postal". Finally realized ALL the wait staff were dancing, took a few minutes for my heart rate to level back out. Now it's one of my favorite things, that and the towel animals.

 

DH setting out empty luggage still has me laughing!!!!

I'm loving this thread, keep the stories coming.

[eggplant]

On our first cruise my DW (at the time she was DGF) packed all her clothes in zip lock bags. When I asked her why, she told me it was because we were going on a boat and she didn't want to get them wet!

[trvlqueen]

Our first cruise was on the NCL Majesty - great ship!

 

 

Embarkation day we got up, ate breakfast, packed up the bags (put everything in them), killed time until lunch, ate lunch, and showed up at the ship right at 2:30 as instructed on our boarding docs. Boy were we surprised to see the food! We had no idea you could eat anytime - we knew the food was included, but thought it would be 'at mealtimes', lol. (also had no idea you could board before 2:30 - how did all these people get on the ship ahead of us? We were right on time???)

 

Next, we booked 2 shore excursions at Nassau. Didn't understand that you stay off the ship between them, so we got back on to meet the next excursion - and missed it. They told us, "just go catch a jitney and catch up to them at Ardasta Gardens", so we went back to the cruise terminal and asked where to catch the bus - and actually expected it to be a bus, lol. It was a minivan blasting reggae music and there were chickens on it. We were STILL clueless - expecting there to be regular bus stops with signs (like in Chicago) and rode all the way around the island twice before the poor driver finally took pity on us and asked where we were trying to go. He laughed himself silly when we told him and was nice enough to drive us right up to the gates (saving us a half mile walk UP a giant hill). Since we had 3 kids (at that time aged 18 months, 4, and 7) we REALLY appreciated that and tipped him very well. Oh, yes, we caught our tour - just as they were getting ready to leave. :p

 

We laugh now - but it wasn't very funny then.

[starsteveo]

First cruise we went to Nassau and after coming off the pier we didn't know where to go. We walked past a building that everyone was going in. We thought it was just a shop and looked way to crowded for us so we just kept walking to head on around the building. We turned the corner and was met by a bunch of young men wearing camouflage and machine guns, local military or cops I guess. They quickly told us we needed to go back and go through the building. We had no idea that you had to go through there and show your IDs and ship card. We'll never make that mistake again!

[jandjfun]

dressed up for dinner EVERY night. Took WAY to many clothes, and thought I lost my passport! I seriously thought I would be stuck in PR. I was so scared. I found it though. :)

[e150club]

I hung a pair of my sock's across the porthole window. My new wife said what are u doing. I said when we get on the pier I'm gonna take a picture of our cabin window. That was our honeymoon 1985 on the Madi Gras. Also a at Ochos Rios Jamaica a man had a garbage bag full of weed. I said let's get the heck out of here before we get locked up. I have the sock pic somewhere.

[TNCruiser30]

On my first cruise, I kept seeing "Friend's of Bill W." on the daily schedule and I just thought that it was a big reunion type group on the ship. Then, on my second cruise, I saw it again, and I was amazed at what a coincidence it was that I was travelling on the same ship as that group again! Actually, it took several cruises before I discovered what the group was :)

[Eva65]

On my first cruise, I kept seeing "Friend's of Bill W." on the daily schedule and I just thought that it was a big reunion type group on the ship. Then, on my second cruise, I saw it again, and I was amazed at what a coincidence it was that I was travelling on the same ship as that group again! Actually, it took several cruises before I discovered what the group was :)

 

 

Just got off my first cruise and wondered the same thing. so tell me what this is?

[chasinraynbowz]

Just got off my first cruise and wondered the same thing. so tell me what this is?

 

 

Friends of Bill W are AA meetings

[jandjfun]

On my first cruise, I kept seeing "Friend's of Bill W." on the daily schedule and I just thought that it was a big reunion type group on the ship. Then, on my second cruise, I saw it again, and I was amazed at what a coincidence it was that I was travelling on the same ship as that group again! Actually, it took several cruises before I discovered what the group was :)

Now that is really funny!!

Friends of dorothy is a support group for gays and their frends and family just in case you see that next time. :D

[Eeyoregon]

It's funny to me now but not at the time.

 

My 1st cruise was out of Port Canaveral. I packed stuff to help with any potential sea sickness but didn't take anything prior to getting on the ship.

 

So we set sail and are cruising for 15 - 20 minutes and I say to myself, "This isn't bad...I'll be fine!" So I head to my inside cabin and start unpacking. Bending up and down putting everything away when all of the sudden I don't feel so well. I realize that the picture hanging above my bed is swinging out a foot from the wall.

 

I pop a chewable meclizine in my mouth and lay down. I am feeling worse by the the minute. I pop another meclizine and am now officially green!

I head for fresh air on deck. A sweet employee sees my "green" face and brings me some gingerale and a cold, wet washcloth. I was starting to feel better but missed my first dinner on board :(.

 

What I didn't realize when I went to unpack was that we were still in the inner-water-way and hadn't hit the open sea yet! :rolleyes: LMAO!!

 

Lesson learned. I now take my meclizine BEFORE I get on the ship and then every night before bed.

[missmery]

On our honeymoon cruise we did an all day outdoor excursion in Belize. It was the fourth day of the cruise and DH and I had been spending pretty much all of our time in the sun, lounging, snorkeling, zip-lining, etc. Well between all the activity, the sunshine, the waves, the junk food, lack of sleep, and the copious amounts of alcohol I managed to over-do it BIG TIME. That evening was 2nd formal night and by the time we got back to the cabin and I got showered I couldn't deny it - I was sick. Still, I managed to do my hair and makeup and got DH to zip me into my dress. I was putting my shoes on when...yup. I managed to make it to the bathroom (luckily) but I definitely wasn't done puking for another couple of hours. Poor DH got to put me to bed and then he went (still in his suit!) to the buffet and sneaked plates of food back to the room. Now I make sure to drink TONS more water than I think I need and I try to rest a whole lot more!!

 

 

Our honeymoon was also my first introduction to casinos. :D I managed to win a few hundred in a slot machine while DH had wandered off and I didn't know I could just transfer the balance to my S&S card (yeah I can't read) so I hit the "cash out" button and got to stand there sheepishly while the machine made all kinds of noises and spit out quarters. Not exactly subtle! It had to be beginner's luck, though, I've played slots on every single cruise since then and haven't won a thing. :confused:

[bptex]

Getting on the ship before noon and thinking the buffet was for the ship staff or exiting passengers. Yeah, I was a rookie once.

[TNM]

Friends of Bill W are AA meetings

 

Wow I saw that on my cruise last week and thought it was a group trip of some sort too lol...I knew what "Friends of Dorothy" meant and that was on the schedule too.

[saharaga]

This was us on our first cruise. It was on Carnival Legend and we had a balcony but slept with the curtains drawn because we didn't know any better. We pretty much missed Grand Cayman:o.

 

When we were thinking seriously about getting the room steward to open the door, they finally appeared around noon, and these were two people who were usually up at 6 a.m. Amazing what sleeping in pitch dark will do to your body clock! And the ship rocking a little...they still say it's the best sleep they've ever had in their lives.

[mummyofthebride]

I was on a my first cruise several years ago. My little girl was in the graduation ceremony that Disney used to do at the end each cruise. This time they had the graduation on the grand stairway and foyer area because final rehearsals for the Toy Story show were being held in the theatre. I was on an upper balcony looking down taking pictures. Had the camera strap wrapped around my wrist. The seas were rockin and rollin. The ship dipped down, I dropped the camera, reached down to grab the balcony railing then reached back up because I was losing my glasses, then bam the camera flew up and hit me between the eyes. Had a shiner for a week afterwards! LOL:o

[jsummerton]

A friend I was traveling with packed her passport in her luggage that we put out the night before and was waiting in customs. She couldn't find her passport for debarkation. We had no idea how she would be able to get back to the states.

 

Apparently this happens a lot. The customs people were very kind. They asked a few questions -- first about sports for our home state and we're not sports fans and had no idea what he was talking about. Finally we answered questions that satisfied him that she was from where we said we were from and we got to our luggage.

 

We were freaked out at the time.

[CapeCodCruiser]

Our 1st cruise was me my DH and 2 DS's - early teens. I booked thinking what a great "family vacation" and about spending time together! Well my DH & I pretty much NEVER saw the two boys for the week unless we made specific plans to meet somewhere!

 

One morning I awoke about 6am to find their beds empty and unslept in:eek:

I started roaming the ship looking for them - I eventually found them with a pack of kids sitting on the stairs waiting for the DR to open for breakfast! They had all stayed up all night hanging out!

 

Silly me thought I would get to spend quality time with the kids! WE did make some great memories that trip!

[desertskies]

Besides WAY overpacking on our first cruise. I guess the funniest thing that happened to us (me) was we got to the terminal early and they let us on the ship around 11:30 or so. We ate and then found us a nice semi-shaded spot to stay until we could go to our room. Well the waiter came by to see if we wanted any drinks. I of course got the drink of the day... again and again... by the time we got to the room around 2:30ish I was feeling no pain. But when it was time for the Muster drill for the life of me I could not figure out how to get the damn life jacket on. Poor room steward had to put it on for me cause I was entirely too intoxicated to take care of it and DH wasn't much better. Was amusing and wish I could have had the whole fiasco on video because I'm sure we both looked like idiots.

[MSRussell]

Thank you for clarifying what Friends of Dorothy and Bill is. I had seen the headings, but had no idea what they meant.

Melanie

[98Charlie]

Thank you for clarifying what Friends of Dorothy and Bill is. I had seen the headings, but had no idea what they meant.

Melanie

 

Took us about 4 cruises to figure out Friends of Bill W meetings. Second cruise we thought it was great that Bill W and his friends were on our cruise again. Third cruise we started to wonder why Bill and his friends kept booking our cruise. Fourth cruise we had a sort of revelation.

 

Dianne

[BallFour4]

I've posted this before on other threads but it stays with me after many cruises.

 

In 1976 my father took my immediate family on the Carnival Mardi Gras out of Miami for a 7 night cruise. We were joined by 6 other family members to make our group a party of 10.

 

The dining area had tables for 8 so my cousin and I decided that table of 6 women would be charmed by two 18 year old boys and away we went to sign up at the seating chart with the pencil that hung alongside.

 

We primped with Brut, hairspray and donned the bell bottoms for a evening of charm at main seating dinner.

 

When we arrived at the table we met four of the nicest set of retired women that traveled together for vacations every summer. Epic fail...

 

We were delighted when two teachers celebrating their first year of school came to rescue us from the AARP divas. They were amused by us and we charmed them to join us in the disco.

 

After 7 nights (or maybe the first) I decided an education degree was the career path for me :) I was in love.

 

Funny thing is we really enjoyed the dinner conversations with all of them and both of us learned a little about ballroom dancing from the older ladies.

 

My father was sent on a nightly mission to find us and he later admitted to only going to the lido deck for a smoke and then back to the cabin. He's a good guy :D

 

Now nearly 35 years later, about 20 cruises, a 27 year marriage (I married a fellow education major I met in college) I chuckle about that every time we step aboard a Carnival ship.

 

That nasal whine of Cathy Lee Gifford telling me "Carnival's got the fun" was true on the first venture and again on the most recent one in July.

 

 

.

[sharecruises]

Had friends drive us to the port and come on board for a Bon Voyage drink and quick tour of the ship....then the horn sounded for the "all ashore" for the guests not cruising

 

 

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kicked back on the deck and watched the skeet shooting

 

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asked for a table away from the "smoking section" of the dining room

 

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Enjoyed tableside "flambe" service from the Maitre "D .

mushroom dish....bananas foster...cherries jubilee

yes with a real flame

 

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Applauded as the waiters came out in the Baked Alaska Parade..with the Baked Alaskas FLAMING

 

Seems pretty dangerous but it was normal and fun back then <grin>

[juniorsmom]

Our first cruise was our honeymoon cruise on the Carnivale August 1981. It so happened a hurricane caused us to change the order of our ports. Ok, no big deal we thought. We left our room before sailaway to see everyone walking around with their life jackets on. Here we were newlyweds and thought we are going down with the ship. (no idea what muster drill was).

 

Later in the evening the ship was rocking and rolling so we visited the medical facility to receive a shot of dramamine. We started to feel better but really really tired. We went back to our room and slept at least 14 hours and missed breakfast the next day. I guess our room steward came in a couple of times and we were fully dressed snoring away.